Wetting agents are an important part of agricultural chemical formulations, since they assure uniform distribution and efficient functioning of the active ingredient in a composition. For example, plant surfaces are typically hydrophobic and resist wetting by aqueous sprays, thereby reducing efficient deposition of the active chemical. Many different products are available for use as wetting agents including anionic, cationic, amphoteric and non-ionic types which suggest the wide chemical diversity and tendency for certain surfactant formulations to be optimum for certain active chemicals. In addition, specific interactions of various wetting agents with a specific active component can result in widely divergent responses so that selection of a highly effective wetting agent becomes difficult.
Selection of an appropriate and acceptable wetting agent often depends on the concentration of active material that the surfactant will accept and ecological limitations on the amount of active chemical that can be safely dispersed into the atmosphere. As a result of these considerations, certain active chemicals showing a degree of toxicity do not enjoy wide spread use since large amounts must be employed to effectively saturate the plant and undesirable amounts are dispersed to the atmosphere due to the inability of the wetting agent to retain a required dosage on the plant when using a normal volume of spray. Consequently, the search for economical wetting agents and their formulations, usable at low concentrations which provide enhanced agricultural chemical activity by improved wetting effectiveness, is ongoing.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide an improved wetting agent composition which is a vehicle for the simultaneous cuticular and stomatic absorption of an agricultural chemical by a plant.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wetting agent having superior absorption capability by a plant which allows for the formulation of an effective agrichemical containing significantly lower dosages of the active chemical for treating plants.
Another object of the invention is to provide an economical and efficient wetting agent concentrate suitable for use with an agrichemical as a single phase aqueous solution.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent form the following description and disclosure.